Improved construction of canal-boats



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABRAM VAN ORDER, OF ITHACA, NE\V YORK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,272, dated September 10, 1861.

T0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I ABRAM, VAN ORDER, of the town of Ithaca, in the county of Tompkins and State of New York, have invented an Improved Mode of Building Oanal-Boats; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure l is a side view of my boat. Fig. 2 is a View of the bottom ot` my boat. Figs. 3 are parts of the sides and ends of the same; and Fig. 4 is a view of the gunwale and deck timbers more particularly.

In Fig. 1, A is the timbered shell or hull of the boat, made of solid timber laid up horizontally by sections or pieces continuously on the sides and ends around the whole boat, the bow and stern portions being made, if considered desirable, wider, as the grain of the timber at the ends is more or less cut away so as to be cross-grained. The sizes of timber contemplated to be used are about six or seven inches Wide and thick. B is the iron cross-bracing similar to that used in bridging, connecting the gnnwale and bilge timbers firmly into one rigid frame just inside of the shell or hull timber-ing. D is the bilge, made of several parts Vor pieces lapped where theyl abut each other and waterstopped; and E is the gunwale, also lapped and stop-watered. F F, &c., are the deckbeams.

In Fig. 2 the combination or construction of the bottom of the boat is shown. In it A A are the bilge-timbers, making part of the sides and therefore marked A, and marked D also by way of distinction from the mass of the sides and ends, and said bilge-timbers are clearly seen to be lapped at the butts and stop-waters in the laps, as at G G G, dac. C

O O, &c., are the floortimbers, double dovetailed into the bilge-timbers, as better seen at I, the section ot a bilge-timber; J, the top View of a floor crosstimber, and k the double dovetail forA the purpose of holding by its upper portion the top of the bilge-timber and by the lower portion of the dovetail the inner side of the bilge-timbers, while not cutting away much of the bilge-timbers by the mortises in the said bilge-timbers.v

By Figs. 3 the construction of the sides and ends of the boat are shown. The sides and ends A A are of solid timber laid piece by piece on or over the bilge timbers continuously, on the side and ends of the boat and one above the other and fastened by a peculiar mode of spiking. The layering of the timber of the sides and ends and the relation of the bilge and gunwale are more clearly seen at the sectional View, where A is the c'ontinuous layering; E the gunwale, and D .fr the bilge, and the double dovetailing of the loor and deck timbers is also exhibited. The top longitudinal view A z shows the buttlapping and the stop-water G l) driven into the said lapping of the butts. At A c the bow and stern continuous layering is shown.

My method of spiking or bolting the continuous timber layering is seen at Ab, Where A at the right hand shows the layering as finished smooth with no bolt-heads for the action of water or air, and A at the left hand shows the layering out away to the` middle and the bolts as driven. The bilge D being in place, the layer c is laid on the bilge and the spikes dsc., are driven into augerholes a little less in size than the bolts or spikes-'say eighteen inches or other convenient and suitable distance apart-through c and almost through D. Upon c is laid the continuous timbers or layer b, and the spikes or bolts Y Y Y, dac., are driven through the layers b, c, and D six inches or other convenient aliquot distance from fr fr., die. IV hen the layer c c is laid upon b and fastened by the spikes or boltszz, &c., which pass through c b a and almost through D, also six inches or other aliquot distance from the other neighboring bolts, this bilge spiking and that of the gunwale are the same, thus giving more strength to the top and bottom of the boat than in the middle where the bolts or spikes are of uniform length, as seen above the layer e e, but preserving the same aliquot distances as below. 'B shows the iron cross-bridge bracing of the bilge D and the gunwale E.

In Fig. 4 the structure of the gnnwale and the deck timber dovetailin'g is shown to bc similar to the bilge-timber framing. The practical construction ot' my boat consists in laying the bilge and floor timbers in their proper places, then laying piece by piece continuously on the sides and ends about the whole periphery of the boat one of the series of timbers, and bolting or spiking (as described) it in place, and then add the other layers of the series one byone until the gunwale is reached, when this and the deck timbers are added, and above this the railtimber When used, the cabins and other delails being made as in ordinary use.

Having' thus sufficiently described my invention, so as to enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to build and constructI the'same, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1S-

The described layers of wood placed one above the other making the shell or sides aLd ends of the boat, the described method ci spiking or b'oltint,r the said layers together, andthe cross-rod bracing connecting the bilgetimbers with the gunWale-timbers when used in combination with each other, and the justnamed combination when further combined with the Water-stops, lap-butting, and double dovetailed floor and deck beams, as described.

March 25, 1861. A

ABRAM VAN ORDER Witnesses:

SAMUEL J. PARKER, LINN VAN ORDER. 

